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Mapnificent is an online project that helps you plan your day via public transportation. As the website says, “Mapnificent shows you the area you can reach with public transport from any point in a given time.”

Say you are at a meeting in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, you have an hour to grab lunch, and you would really like to stop at a Thai restaurant. Set your original location, add in how much time you have to travel, and search “Thai Restaurants.” Mapnificent will show you Thai Restaurant locations that you can reach via public transportation within the travel time you have allotted.

Mapnificent is available in many cities worldwide, and is great for when you’re traveling. Next time you’re traveling to an unfamiliar city or neighborhood, check Mapnificent and rely on local public transit – or your own two feet – to get you around in an environmentally-conscious way.

Energy Self-Reliant States has developed a Google Map-based assumption of when cities and states will reach solar grid parity. In other words, the map shows when non-renewable commodity prices will equal, or be greater than, the cost of solar-generated power. The website describes it best: “Solar grid parity describes the moment when electricity from solar power is less costly than electricity from the existing grid. It’s a tipping point, when democratization of the electricity system not only makes political and economic sense, but becomes more competitive than using utility-delivered electricity.”

This map makes several assumptions, but as a general baseline it provides an interesting assessment of where and when solar power can be the most useful in different areas.